📖 Chapter 5 – First Collective Mission
Part 7 – Shadows After Victory
1. The Silence After
The room that had just roared with steel and screaming code was now quiet. Illfang's fragments evaporated into the ceiling, a pale blue mist curling where his body had fallen.
Then the cheering began.
Dozens of voices, shaky, hysterical, alive.
"We lived—he's dead!"
"They saved us!"
"That black fire—what was that?"
Some players fell to their knees, hands trembling over their chests where HP bars hovered intact. Others clung to comrades, sobbing relief into armor.
Kirito leaned on his sword, breath ragged. "Damn. That… was not in the beta."
Asuna, hair matted with sweat, glanced at Neo. "You stopped it. The drain. Without you—"
Neo waved her off with a rough breath. "We stopped it. Together."
But his hand still trembled. Black sparks lingered under his nails.
2. The Players React
A group of lower-level players crowded forward, wide-eyed.
"Sir—no, Lord Neo—how did you—"
"Are you admins? Developers? Who even are you people?"
Zhongli stepped in, calm as stone. "We are travelers. That is all you need to know. What matters is that you are safe."
His voice soothed them, heavy with gravity and certainty. But their eyes always strayed back to Neo—the one who had wrestled with the siphon, the one whose shadows had eaten the impossible.
Tony muttered over comms:
"Congratulations, kid. You're officially terrifying. PR nightmare, too."
Neo forced a smirk. "Good thing I don't care about PR."
But deep down, his chest was tight.
3. Neo's Private Fear
Later, while the others triaged survivors and reorganized loot, Neo stepped into a corner of the ruined chamber.
His reflection shimmered in the blade of his slime-forged sword. The black glow wasn't gone. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
[Great Sage]:
"Residual hunger detected."
Neo clenched his fist. "…I enjoyed it. Didn't I?"
The silence in the group chat was immediate, then—
Himiko (whisper): "You mean when you crushed the siphon thing?"
Neo (private): "…Yeah. It felt… good. Too good. Like I was meant to take souls, not save them."
Zhongli (whisper): "That is the duality you walk. Demon Lord and Hero. Both harvesters of destiny. Both needed."
Neo: "And what if I lose myself?"
Kiana (whisper, softer): "Then we'll pull you back. Idiot. You think you're doing this alone?"
Neo's throat burned. He closed the chat. For now, he had to believe them.
4. The Transmigrator Moves
The cheer of the players hadn't yet faded when the sky itself shivered.
A crimson system notification blared across every player's vision:
[Global Announcement]
Congratulations, warriors, for defeating Illfang the Kobold Lord. But do not rejoice too soon. The rules of this world are mine now. Every death strengthens me. Every soul fuels my throne. Climb, if you dare. Fail, and you will all serve.
—The Chosen Transmigrator.
The world map rippled. Entire floors shifted, dungeon corridors twisting into unnatural geometries.
Kirito's face paled. "That's… not Kayaba. That's something else."
Asuna whispered: "He's rewriting Aincrad while we're inside it."
[Great Sage]:
"Prediction: Mortality rate will spike. Failure condition threshold at risk. Recommend acceleration of clearing floors."
The group chat lit with urgent chatter.
Tony: "We just painted a target on our backs."
Himeko: "Good. Let him aim—we'll hit harder."
Zhongli: "…Then it begins in earnest."
Neo looked at his hand one last time. Shadows curled, eager.
"Then we climb," he said.
To Be Continued…